Archive for September 2011

Continuing in our series, we have two new videos of houses from the solar decathlon. The first is from Indiana which is a great example of how a very traditional looking home can utilize these approaches. Next up is a house that severs as a contrast to the first, this is a very modern looking home that will be sure to stand out.

Every 2 years there is an event in Washington DC called the solar decathlon. This is a competition of 92 universities that come together and create 92 different off the grid houses. I have been wanting to go for a long time, but this year isn’t my year. However, they make some really awesome videos for it, so this week I am going to highlight many of them.

Here is a great video I just found of Dee Williams and her thoughts on Tiny Houses and what it means for her in her life. I couldn’t help but be struck by the question she posed: in your final breath of life, what is the one thing from this life you wish to hold. It struck me in a profound moment of clarify and it made me think not WHAT I would want to hold, but WHO. I think I have said this often, but it is relationships that matter, not things.

That’s right, I said it! Sustainability is a thing of the past, not to mention a huge marketing buzz-word. We need to move on, grow up, and realize we need to see sustainability as a failure. What is better than sustainable? Regenerative of course!

If you think about sustainability, what does it mean? It means that we achieve an approach that allows us to continue on our current path indefinitely. It is to maintain the status quo, it is to do no more harm, but make no improvements. It is helpful to think of this on a continuum, currently we are operating in a destructive pattern, we are striving for a sustainable one, but ultimately we need to be regenerative existence. When we think about this, we quickly realize that to maintain our current way of life is actually a failure, because I think we can all agree… we can do better. So what does regenerative even mean? Essentially what we are gunning for here is to move beyond sustainability on the continuum, to encourage a positive impact, one where the earth begins to heal. It means that how we live will allow the earth to start to heal the damage we have inflicted upon it. This means reforestation, reduction of green house gases, allowing endangered species to return to normal, the end of producing waste/smog/trash/etc. Think of it like this, if humans disappeared tomorrow, the earth would begin to revert back to its natural state, we should pursue initiatives to promote that restoration.

By setting our sites on regenerative approaches, we not only allow us to continue humanity indefinitely, but we improve the quality of our life and the earth. By doing this we are able to ensure a future for generations, we realize our full potential, we live fuller and happier lives in connection with nature, not working against it.

I know I have had a difficult time changing my vernacular to that of a regenerative approach, but I think it is something we need to start doing. Heck it might be useful to copy right it now so marketers can’t get a hold of it.

At this point a lot of you are likely thinking “that’s swell Ryan, it sounds good on paper, but how do we go about achieving it?” Glad you asked!

There are two major things that I see as a barrier to achieving a regenerative society. Population size and life style. Both need to change in a dramatic way and I know it isn’t a popular notion.

The point is our world population is too large, true there are many who feel that we can actually handle more if we have our ducks in a row, but we don’t. Those studies are also going for sustainability, not regrowth. In reality we need to drop the world population below a billion, ideally a lot less. We want to make sure to preserve cultural heritage, genetic diversity, knowledge and other key aspects, but in the end, we need a smaller population.

How do we get to this lower population? A good first step is controlling the population growth now through sex education, availability of contraceptives and programs like that. But that will only level off population growth, we need to reduce it. The scary fact is that people of this world (maybe not those in super power nations) are at some point in the future are going to have food shortages. Our food system is not sustainable and it is also very weak to shocks. Another factor that could come into play is a large scale pandemic. This is Mother Earth’s way of maintaining populations and we have been able to stay ahead of the curve for a long time now. In the end, we can’t out innovate Mother Nature and she will come back with a vengeance.

The next thing is life style, we do need to adjust how we live, how we consume, change our expectations, and yes, make sacrifices. Many people are quick to say “do you want us to revert back to the stone age” or “an agrarian life” and in part, yes we do. However, it is a much more advanced version of these lives. One that marries technology where appropriate, where we leverage knowledge and information freely and expertly, where the bottom line includes externalities. This is very difficult to swallow, people are often very against this notion, hostile even. But it is a reality.

Once we get past these two hurtles there are some other higher level things we can do.

I covered this a while ago, but the concept has finally seen the light of day, check out the sleepbox. It is designed to be a short term hotel room of sorts, allowing travelers to take some time to catch a nap or relax in a clean, comfortable and safe environment.

In mid-August 2011, the first Sleepbox was installed at the Aeroexpress terminal of Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow, Russia. It represents the base version made of MDF with a natural ash-tree veneer. This Sleepbox attracted such a great deal of interest from passengers and big companies that chances are first commercially operated boxes will be installed at airports and in the city by the end of this year.